For some reason I couldn’t sleep at the Rees Hotel last
night. It has been my favorite hotel and for those that have traveled with me,
I even liked the pillows and walked barefoot on the floor!!
I was up at 6am so I decided to have breakfast at the hotel.
Vanilla pancakes with caramelised banana and bacon with orange juice for $28.00
NZ. I needed to have that with the long bus ride ahead of me for the day. The
desk clerk brought my luggage all the way up the driveway of the Reese and
across the street to the bus stop! No easy feat! Our bus came on time and off
we go at 8 am.
The bus driver was very informative. When we would pass
something historical he would tell us a story or just be silly. We stopped
every hour for a 10 minute break. Some of the places we stop are amusing. They
are places where there are pubic toilets (as they say) or a small café to get a
snack or piece of fruit. This photo is from a salmon farm. I kept my eye on that white heron. He was getting closer and closer but no catch while I was watching him.
When we reached the western coastline, he stopped at a
lookout for the chance to take some photos. The coast in that section is much
like Oregon with the large rock like structures rising up from the shallow
waves. There is a lot of driftwood covering the area by the dunes and people on
the beach appear to be picking up trash.
The drive here was very different than Dunedin to
Queenstown. There we saw rolling hills and a lot
Our arrival in Franz Josef was early at 4:00PM. I must say
the view of the glaciers, Fox and Franz Josef was amazing. I can’t believe they
do not melt in the sun! Tomorrow I will see it up close for myself as I am
going on my first helicopter ride and glacier walk.
After the arrival at Punga Gorda hotel, I deposit all my
stuff, grab the camera and tripod and get a few shots of the small street and
glacier in the background. Dinner at The Landing was fun as I joined to other
Americans at their table. Of course the wife has a son who graduated from
Downingtown! They live in Boston now and are here for 3 weeks also. They just
completed the tour I am taking tomorrow and gave me many tips, so now I am
…cough cough….prepared to walk on a glacier. Dinner was chicken satay, rice and
a small salad with a Summit ale.
I stopped in the Wildlife Centre for Kiwis across the street
but the ticket was $35 just to see some kiwis in cages – not sure I want to see
them in that environment. They are nocturnal so it is difficult to spot them running wild. There is one guy who has transmitters
on some so he can run tours and find them in the dark. The poor kiwis! I think
I’ll go to the zoo.
Not much else happened today since it was a long drive. I’m
sure I’ll have some interesting details tomorrow.
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